Good thoughts his only friends,
His wealth a well-spent age,

The earth his sober inn

And quiet pilgrimage.

-T. CAMPION.

131. ROYALTY.

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE

PRINCE CONSORT.

If it be good for man daily to see and to feast upon objects of great beauty in art and nature, surely the contemplation of a character at once so great and so beautiful as that of the Prince Consort, should be a sublime and touching lesson to our countrymen.

-PROF. SEDGWICK.

Of the many virtues that distinguished the Prince, two deserve special mention; for they were conspicuous, even in his boyhood, winning for him the love and respect of all. Growing with his growth, these virtues gained strength with years, till they formed, as it were, part of his very religion. One was, his eager desire to do good, and to assist others; the other, the grateful feeling which never allowed him to forget an act of kindness, however trifling, to himself.

He gave an early instance of the former quality, when only six years of age, in the eagerness with which he made a collection for a poor man in Wolfsbach (a small village close to the Rosenau), whose cottage he had seen burnt to the ground. He never rested till a sufficient sum had been collected to rebuild the poor man's cottage. How many more substantial proofs has he given of the same virtue since he grew up particularly in the numerous benevolent institutions founded by him in his native home!

These two qualities of heart won for him the affec

tion of all; and to them more particularly may be ascribed that peculiar charm which fascinated all who knew our beloved master: awakening those feelings of love, admiration, and respect which attended him from the cradle to his premature grave.

*

On the death of her uncle William IV in the year 1837, Princess Victoria became the Queen of the British Empire, to the universal rejoicings and entire satisfaction of the English people. When the news of this event reached the Prince, who was then a student at Bonn, he wrote her a magnanimous letter of congratulation, rejoicing with a personal delight over .her altered position, little dreaming that he would, ere three summers had rolled over his head, share her fortunes for life. Having pointed out Her heavy responsibility, "May Heaven," he said, "assist you and strengthen you with his strength in that high but difficult task; I hope that your reign may be long, happy, and glorious, and that efforts may rewarded by the thankfulness and love of your subjects." These hearty wishes so nobly uttered have indeed been verified; and he himself, in the inscrutable decrees of Providence, largely contributed to those glorious and happy results, which have shed such lustre to the reign of our beloved Queen.†

your

be

The Prince's character, (remarks a reviewer of Memoirs of the Prince) as he grew into manhood, un

* From a memorandum by the old tutor of the Prince: from "The early years of H. R. H. The Prince Consort" by Lieut.-General The Hon. C. Grey.

† From Life and Character of Prince Albert-a Lecture by Gosto Behary Mullick.

folded itself with singular completeness. The passionate imaginativeness which belongs to the youth of men of more powerful temperaments; the tempestuous unrest which spurns at control; the impetuous aspiration after vague and impossible objects; the intellectual or moral revolt against established rules :-these qualities which so often chequer the early years of greatly gifted men were entirely absent in Prince Albert. He was in all points a sensible, manly, high-spirited, pure-minded boy, conscientiously anxious to improve himself in all ways which were presented to him as good; a water-drinker, so temperate in his habits that he called eating and drinking waste of time,' studying steadily and methodically, yet always with a healthy enjoyment of out-door vigorous amusements.

6

He always paid the greatest attention to all he saw and the Queen remembered well how intently he listened to the sermon preached at St. Paul's, when he and his father and brother accompanied the Duchess of Kent and the Princess there on the occasion of the service attended by the children of the different charity schools. It is indeed rare to see a prince, not yet seventeen years of age, bestowing such earnest attention on a sermon.

The Prince's marriage was singularly felicitous. The tastes, the aims, the hopes, the aspirations of the Royal Pair were the same. Their mutual respect and confidence went on increasing. Their affection grew, if possible, even warmer and more intense as the years of their married life advanced. Companions in their domestic employments, in their daily labours for the State, and, indeed, in almost every occupation,-the burthens and difficulties of life were thus lessened more than by

half for each one of the persons thus happily united in this true marriage of the soul.*

Few men who have ever lived, no Prince certainly of whom we read, could have possessed a mind so manysided with such corresponding political and social influence. He was indeed the type of a new era, an era of power; but not of that kind of power represented by the armour of his noble ancestors, the power of mere physical strength, courage, or endurance, displayed at the head of armies or of fleets; but the moral power of character, the power of intellectual culture, of extensive knowledge, of earnest thought; the power of the sagacious statesman, of the single-minded good man that power which discerns, interprets, and guides the wants and spirit of the age-the power in short, of highest wisdom directed by genuine benevolence to highest objects.

His real strength lay most of all in his character, or, in that which resulted from will and deliberate choice, springing out of a nature, singularly pure, by God's grace, from childhood.†

-DR. MACLEOD.

By far the most interesting feature in his entire career-the grand distinguishing trait of his whole character, that which has bequeathed his name to posterity with the tenderest of associations and roused and attracted the admiration of the civilized world, was his spotless

From the Introduction to "The principal speeches and addresses of H. R. H. The Prince Consort."

From The early years of H. R. H. The Prince Consort, by Lieut-General The Hon. C. Grey.